Jesse Jackson's Home

Greenville, South Carolina 29617, United States

Created By: Brandon Inabinet

Information

Here stands the boyhood home of one of my long-time heroes: Reverend Jesse Jackson. Reverend Jackson was an iconic civil rights leader who founded PUSH in 1971 and pressed for broader employment opportunities for African-Americans. In the 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns, Rev. Jesse Jackson became the first viable African-American candidate for president.

Living in the small house located in a poor neighborhood on Haynie Street, Rev. Jackson first became aware of the racial inequality and decided he must do something about it. I remember listening to Rev. Jackson one Sunday as he reminisced on his childhood house, describing it as “a three-room house, bathroom in the backyard, slop jar by the bed, no hot and cold running water.” Unable to afford hospital care, Jesse’s mother gave birth to him in the small bedroom when she was only sixteen years old.

Like the rest of us, Rev. Jackson’s mother explained to him before he started school how there were only certain places in the neighborhood an African-American could visit and other places (like Cleveland Street) “that was for the white people.” In 1960, Jackson made the mistake many of us did and along with seven classmates, he went to jail for trying to use the public library which was a space for only white patrons.

Rev. Jackson was a role model for many African-Americans. Some of us here in Greenville wish we had seen or heard more from him over the years, but Rev. Jesse Jackson is the pride of Greenville, South Carolina and his childhood house serves as a reminder to us all of the “common ground” we must find, and to be the “quilt” that is the diversity and strength of our shared nation.